Sport-Australia warns against early specialisation for young athletes

SYDNEY, Oct 21 (Reuters) – The Australian Sports Commission has advised that encouraging promising young athletes to participate in different physical activities, including play, rather than specialise early in a single sport is often a better recipe for long-term outcomes.

Expanding on the ASC’s 2019 guidance, the position statement released on Tuesday warns that any decision to restrict an athlete to a single sport must be driven by the child and take into account their circumstances.

“The ASC notes that there has been a growing trend toward youth athletes specialising at an early age in a single sport,” said the statement.

“There is evidence that sport specialisation in youth athletes is associated with a range of potential adverse outcomes.”The strongest and most consistent evidence relates to overuse injury and burnout, particularly where specialisation involves high volumes of repetitive training, year-round competition and insufficient recovery.”

Early specialisation may also result in reduced enjoyment of sport for the athlete as well as the potential for psychological stress and a lower quality of life, the statement said.

“These risks may be greater when specialisation begins early, occurs before the athlete is developmentally ready or is externally or structurally driven,” it continued.

“It remains unclear whether some adverse outcomes are independently attributable to specialisation or primarily reflect the high training loads, limited recovery and restricted experiences that may accompany it.”

The statement said action sports like skateboarding, BMX cycling and sport climbing, where some children have enjoyed success at Olympic level, were less of an issue because “skill acquisition is play-based, exploratory, and self-directed”.

“There is no single pathway through athlete development,” Australian Institute of Sport Director Matti Clements said.

“The appropriate timing and approach to sport specialisation will vary depending on the athlete, the sport and the environment in which development takes place.”

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)

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